I'll Be Good to You

by Christine Gray

  “If we’re booted off because of,” I point to his dick, then drag my thumb across my throat to sign, ‘You’re Dead’.

  He gives me that narrowed eyed stare I’m getting used to seeing whenever he’s doing his best to contain his anger. We’re not dumb. We both know we’re still live with mics. I glide into the room, keeping away from the chatter. I’m not here to make friends. I might make enemies due to being standoffish but come on…none of these people are my friends. We’ve been taping for five days now. Talk has already started that me and Johnny were the Network favorites.

  Sliding into the chair, I do my best to keep my feelings under wraps. He must know I’m on my way to getting in his ass because Johnny picks up a chair to carry it to sit in front of me. I remain silent while concentrating on holding on to the fake smile plastered on my face. I nod my head as he ticks off the list of why I have nothing to worry about. That might be the case if he literally didn’t possibly fuck things up. Although I’m smiling, reflecting in the depths of my eyes is the threat I made.

  “This is the longest thirty minutes,” complains a contestant.

  Man, that guy didn’t tell a lie. Finally, we were called in, lined up, the lights came up and….

  “Action!”

  “This week, you were given the task to decorate one room that’s your dream room. Although many of you rose to the challenge, a few of you proved you just wasn’t up to the task,” begins Carl, the male host.

  “If your name is called, please step forward,” Cindy hops in. “Team Johnny and Tia.”

  We step forward as ordered. Two other teams are called after us. I pray she hurries up. I’m about to pass out from holding my death in fear.

  “You all are saved. Please return to the waiting room,” Carl says with a smile.

  I about stumble as relief washes over me. I glance back at the three teams still under the stage lights. One team will be named the winner and will be granted favors for the next challenge, one team will be at the bottom, while the other team will be booted off. John and I weren’t standing there, but I’ll take the pass onto the next task. Once back in the room, the production staff is ready to un-mic us and send us on our way till, tomorrow.

  “See, told you,” smirks Johnny.

  “Why, because they have to keep the pretty boy on the show for as long as they can?”

  “Well, yes,” he pauses. “And because we were the best of show, but of course they can’t let us win every challenge.”

  “I know how these shows work. I just don’t want to be passed through based on who my partner is,” I grumble as I fish my cell out of my crater of a purse.

  Shit, for messages and six texts.

  “And they aren’t and won’t,” he promises while we walk towards the side exit of the studio.

  He’s going on about something, but I’ve tuned him out. With each text I read, my feet become harder to move until I finally stop.

  Brit: Ma, grandma isn’t answering her phone. I need to be picked up.

  Brit: Mom, can you get grandma to come get me, PLEZ?

  Brit: I can’t stand that old woman. You know she sees me calling. So darn petty!!!

  “Fucking cunt,” I grumble under my breath.

  That’s what my Mom was, though; a bitchy, petty ass, nosey, dried up cunt. Now, this woman knows damn well what I’m doing. She knows I’m busting my ass off to make good on this opportunity, but since I didn’t go along with her, last night, she’s pulling this bullshit.

  Now, what the hell am I gonna do? I left my car at Johnny’s property this morning and road in the van to the studio. I would have to either, Uber or wait for the studio driver to get his slow ass in gear to take me to my car, which is in the opposite direction from the school. The fact that it’s only a little after 11:00am means something has jumped off at her school.

  Me: Sorry, I missed your messages. Phone was off for taping. Bump Mom! I’m coming. Are you ok, baby?

  “You got me looking crazy talkin’ to myself,” accuses Johnny.

  “Huh?” I ask with a start.

  Damn, well I am just standing in the middle of the parking lot.

  “What? Shit, that’s no different than what you’re used to,” I reply. “I don’t have the time. I need an Uber. I gotta-“

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Brit needs to be picked up from…” I trail off to open my text to read her response.

  Brit: In the office. They messed up my clothes, Ma. So, shamed.

  My lips move while I read.

  “I’m gonna beat those bitches ass. I’m so fuckin’ tired of this bullshit!” I exclaim while I stalk off towards where I don’t know.

  “Hey, hey, what’s wrong?”

  “You got a car? Take me to Brit’s school,” I command instead of asking.

  “Yeah, um, this way,” he says as he points in the direction of a cluster of cars.

  “This shit has to stop…and the school does jack shit,” I continue.

  I’m totally lost in the haze of my frustration. If he didn’t stop at the passenger side of his car, I would have walked on. I’m still cursing a mile down the road. The GPS that he thought wise to use instead of me helping him navigate is the only other voice talking in the car.

  “Is it that bad?” he questions at last as he pulls to a stop at a red light.

  “Bad? Bad?! These hoes have no brains. They have been bullying her none stop. I don’t know what happened between middle school and high, but I’m going to have to lawyer up because I’m going to grease up to kick some teenage ass.”

  “So, she knows these girls?”

  “Two, no four of them, yeah. The rest are new faces. So, why all the hate?”

  “It’s over some young dick,” scoffs Johnny as he puts the car in motion. “Dumb as fuck the shit these girls do, but I bet that’s what it’s all about. Is she smart, too?”

  “Honor roll, excellent awards,…in gifted,” I rattle off.

  “And she got the boys trying to get in there, too? She’s a threat to those girls. You know how it was in school. Has she had to throw any hands?” he asks.

  “A little shoving, but she’s always been able to run away,” I answer.

  “Not to tell you what to do, but, um…that might be the problem. I’m just saying, and telling you the code of the street, if you always running, there’s always going to be someone giving chase. I promise you, if she bitch slapped one of those girls and put a hurtin’ on her, they’ll put some respect on her name, next time,” he explains.

  Turning in the seat, I give him my full attention. I don’t know why I’m whispering, but I am when I speak.

  “That’s what I want to do so bad. I mean, I want to tell her to bust those girls up, but her record, and what if she loses?” I cringe

  “So, what if she loses the fight. We don’t want her too, but so what? It shows people that she isn’t afraid to stand up for herself and she isn’t going to take their shit. You can’t win every fight. You know that going in, but it’s the fact that you aren’t scared that will make people think twice. But I can teach her how to kick ass. I promise she won’t lose,” he grins.

  “Are you talking that windmill shit?” I tease. Talking to someone that isn’t instructing to turn the other cheek, or to toughen up and take it is a blissful change.

  “What? Shit, I would have been laughed off the block. Nah, I mean squaring the fuck up, busting lips, throwing elbows,” he laughs.

  “Oh, alright…I don’t want my baby getting set up for failure,” I chuckle.

  The mood shifts. The tension vanishes.

  “Are you going to tell me about Cindy and what’s her face?” I wonder.

  A deep frown settles on his handsome face. “Why the hell would I spend this alone time with you talking about yesterday news?”

  “Well, I need to know if-“

  “Listen, Tia, you don’t have to be jealous of any other woman,” he jokes.

  “Asshole, I’m not jealous over so
me boney ass women. Since you like to share your dick like mints I need to know if any more will be popping up,” I scoff.

  Johnny tosses his head back in laughter. “A mint is a non-threatening candy, Tia. I promise you the size of my dick is very threatening, and the way I use it isn’t for everybody.”

  Shit, don’t look. Hoe, you better keep your thirsty ass eyes from dropping to his crotch. You hear me. Don’t you fucking do it, the voice in my head screams.

  It takes great will power not to sneak a peek in an attempt to measure him up in his jeans.

  “Does that really work for you, this act?” I smirk as I wave my hand in the air.

  He actually pretends to be thoughtful. He shrugs. “Never needed to go to these lengths before. Consider yourself my first worthy opponent.”

  “And your first loss,” I add.

  “It’s still the first round. I haven’t begun to fight,” he teases.

  “God help me,” I pray.

  “Honestly, I haven’t weakened you…not even a tiny bit?” he inquires while placing a small space between his thumb and pointer finger.

  “Right here, alone in the car, I’ll tell you, so you better mark it down on your calendar.” I inhale deeply, then let it out in a rush. I can’t look at him, so I train my gaze on the speeding landscape outside his window. “You aren’t the idiot I pegged you as. You shocked me that you can do all the things you did during the challenge. You don’t seem to be too flashy like so many other guys in the game and,” dropping my voice to a mumble, “you are good looking.”

  “So why not let me shoot my shot and let it hit?”

  “Because it’s you,” I stress. “You might not get it, but you aren’t the real estate man down the street or the doctor. You are high profile, and there is no way you can tell me you can keep us under wraps. How you think my daughter is going to take me fucking around with you, huh? Then when you’re ready to move on, then what? No, thank you.”

  **

  JOHNNY

  My eyes scans Tia’s side profile before I train them back on the road. I consider telling her that she’s wrong. I know how to get pussy on the down low. My panty games aren’t splashed all over the papers because I tend to mess with women that have something to lose. Women in politics, in high society, even a few that are married, some young and older, but all that would take our time together to the grave. I don’t care that it’s been rumored that I’m gay. I have nothing to prove.

  For Tia to say I don’t know how to set up hotel affairs, rent distant locations, and keep employees around that are paid damn good to stay silent, is crazy. Yet, I’m not going to confirm that I am doing just as she’s claimed before. I’ll just bask in the glory of knowing that she’s starting to see me in a different light. That she’s starting to see me as a sexual contender, too. Yeah, I know she only said I look good, but there’s a lot in that statement. There is an attraction in that statement, and where there is attraction, there can become lust.

  I turn my head to glance out my window to hide my wicked smile. I’m working this shit. Little by little, I’m digging a hole that in time, I’m gonna fill with my dick. Listen, call me an asshole all you want. I’m just not hiding what I want like so many others. Unless the dude is gay or deeply in love, trust me, there is a reason why he’s talking to you about what happened on Love and Hip Hop. He ain’t springing for Starbucks and lingering outside the office waiting for you because he’s a ‘nice guy’. Fuck no. He’s hoping you’ll take notice and give his slick ass a chance.

  The rest of the forty-five-minute ride is filled with clowning on the other contestants from the show. I recognize the name of the preppy high school when I turn into the driveway. I call it a prep school, yet it’s nothing but a charter school with fucked-up kids, wannabe thugs, and a wing for the brainy students. In a place like this, money from the parents ensures high grades to push their spoiled little darlings along, instead of actually teaching them that achievements in life ain’t bought but earned. No wonder the school staff hasn’t jacked up those girls fucking with Tia’s daughter. No one on campus was going to speak against the purses and wallets that keep the lights on.

  I lean back to give Tia room to stretch over to flash her school parent ID card to the security man standing in the air condition station at the gate. He squints his eyes at the piece of plastic, then does the same to Tia to size her up. When his gaze falls on me, his small eyes grow in acknowledgment.

  “Hey, h, aren’t you-“

  “The gate,” I gesture ahead. “Her daughter is sick.”

  “Y-ye-yes Sir. Sorry,” he stutters.

  I catch the second guard getting to his feet to have a quick glance into my car to see for himself what’s got his friend all flustered. I smile and wave before zooming through the gate.

  “You know they are radioing to the office,” she sighs.

  “I’m sorry,” I mumble.

  “Why?”

  “Because knowing me isn’t going to get your daughter the golden keys to the gate. It will for some that want to use her, and others are going to hate her even more. I’ll be here,” I say as I put the car into park in the round-a-bout at the glass doors.

  Tia gives me a strange look before getting out. I quickly put the car in reverse and back it up a few yards away from the doors. I nod at her before she disappears into the stone structure that looks like the school should be in England somewhere instead of in the States. I’m fucking things up. I can see this getting complicated. Not with fucking Tia, but all the other moving parts that can become sticky. Yosef told me she had a daughter. He also told me that it was Tia’s practice to not bring the guys that were busting out her back around her girl.

  Friendzone, I think.

  That’s where I’m headed. I tap the leather wheel in thought. It isn’t until I hear voices that I glance up. I don’t know what I was expecting? I mean, Tia is a fine woman, so it makes sense for her daughter to be pretty, too. Then again, the girl is only half of Tia. Hell, I’ve seen two good looking people make some ugly ass babies, so it’s the luck of the cards. I gotta say, luck shined. My eyes roam the girl. Her hair was in neat braids with weave adding to the length. Nice shape, clear dark skin, cute features that I can see some fuck boy trying to mess with her. Yeah, she’s a stunner. That fact for some reason has me strangling the wheel while glancing around to see if there was an asshole trying to look at her.

  What the fuck is wrong with me? It must be knowing that she’s being bullied. On the sly, I switch off the AC in the car to crack the passenger side window.

  “They did what?”

  “They poured chocolate milk on me in the hall and started to mooo.”

  What, what the fuck is wrong with these kids?

  “How did- what did the principal say?”

  “He called them in like always, and like always, they made a lame excuse. The girl said someone pushed her and it happened. She gave a sappy, completely bogus apology and he took it.”

  “Fuck this! Bullshit, you hear me. I’m going to beat that bitc-“

  “Ma,” the girl begs, pulling on Tia’s arm. “I just want to go home, okay? Where’s the car at?”

  “I’m getting tired of ignoring shit, writing letters, and coming to conferences just for these people to not care. I sacrifice a lot for you to go here,” Tia cries in the direction of the front doors and office of the school.

  “The car, Ma? Come on,” begs the girl.

  “It’s not here,” snaps Tia. “I caught a ride,” she finally answers as she points to my ride idling.

  Slowly, I close the window. Turning on the AC, I pretend to be playing with my phone.

  “Wow, who brought you?” asks her daughter.

  “Just, just get in the car,” demands Tia with a shove.

  Hurrying things up, I roll to stop in front of them. Tia slides in. Her daughter, well she doesn’t move that fast after glimpsing me in the driver seat.

  “If you get in, you can talk to him,” coa
xes Tia.

  The entire time, the girl’s mouth is hanging slack-jawed.

  “Johnny,” I say, offering my hand for her to shake.

  “Mr. Thicke,” corrects Tia.

  “I don’t know if I feel comfortable being called Mr. Thicke by a little girl,” I frown before putting the car in motion.

  “Mr. Johnny,” suggests Tia.

  “Johnny,” I correct, glaring at the girl’s reflection in the rearview mirror.

  “I, I’m…who am I?” she asks Tia. “Oh, Brittany…or Brit, or hey you, whichever you prefer,” she says in a rush.

  “Never hey you, but I can work with the other two,” I chuckle. “Breathe, okay. I’m a normal guy, believe me.”

  “Yeah, but famous,” she gushes.

  “Jesus,” sighs Tia.

  “I don’t know why you’re acting like that. I know you were nervous when you met me. You tried covering it up with that stank attitude, but I saw it,” I tease.

  “You were rude…to Johnny,” remarks Brit in awe.

  “No, not rude. She was stank,” I repeat.

  “I wasn’t,” snaps Tia. She has to turn around to face the backseat to drive home her point. “I was firm-“

  “So was I,” I whisper for only Tia to hear.

  “I was setting the tone,” she continues on, punching me in the arm. “I wasn’t going to let you think that I was going to be a brainless push over like a few designers in the contest are.”

  “Oh, ma’s not one to be walked over,” praises Brit.

  “Damn right,” huffs Tia as she faces forward.

  “So, are you on for another week or did you get cut?”

  “I’m ashamed that you would ask that,” I scowl in response to Brit’s question.

  “We’re still in the running, but we didn’t win,” admits Tia.

  “So what, you have another try to show up and show out. That’s all that matters,” smiles Brit.

  “See, she gets it,” I smirk with a nod.

  I watch Brit from the back seat as she touches the leather of the seats in amazement.

  “This is really nice. What kinda car is this?”

  “A Maserati EV,” I answer.

  “Wow, so what other cars do you have?”